BlackBird wrote:Thank you for the poignant response iforgotmyname. Truly the situation is a very complex one. How was democracy shafted so thoroughly in the space of about 10 years (since Rajapaksa's election)? I hope life is well for you in Lanka and your own situation is good.

ayu bowanJack

Ayu-bowan

Life isn't so bad for me personally. The communities are more or less at peace (you feel there's less tension), and in all honesty the Muslims here have great patience and great resolve, those of us who like peace stand with them - and I don't think the government will let there be any violence in regards to this latest spate from fringe elements who happen to have a lot of media attention and government blessing. The only ones being violent are people aligned with the government, mostly thugs doing some top brass official's dirty work - which is why they seem to have the ability to get away with certain things (loyalty goes both ways I suppose).

As for your question on democracy - it all started with a majority blinded by the immediate cessation of a long drawn conflict and what followed soon was the 18th amendment to our constitution, which made the executive presidency much stronger.

Things are volatile, but life goes on, and certainly better than being amidst a war.

I did some looking into the 18th amendment. It's a virtual enabling act. Do you think Rajapaksa and the SLFP rigged the election in 2010? What is the UNP and JVP doing about the situation?

I am glad to hear life is ok for you

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

BlackBird wrote:Thank you for the poignant response iforgotmyname. Truly the situation is a very complex one. How was democracy shafted so thoroughly in the space of about 10 years (since Rajapaksa's election)? I hope life is well for you in Lanka and your own situation is good.

ayu bowanJack

Ayu-bowan

Life isn't so bad for me personally. The communities are more or less at peace (you feel there's less tension), and in all honesty the Muslims here have great patience and great resolve, those of us who like peace stand with them - and I don't think the government will let there be any violence in regards to this latest spate from fringe elements who happen to have a lot of media attention and government blessing. The only ones being violent are people aligned with the government, mostly thugs doing some top brass official's dirty work - which is why they seem to have the ability to get away with certain things (loyalty goes both ways I suppose).

As for your question on democracy - it all started with a majority blinded by the immediate cessation of a long drawn conflict and what followed soon was the 18th amendment to our constitution, which made the executive presidency much stronger.

Things are volatile, but life goes on, and certainly better than being amidst a war.

I did some looking into the 18th amendment. It's a virtual enabling act. Do you think Rajapaksa and the SLFP rigged the election in 2010? What is the UNP and JVP doing about the situation?

I am glad to hear life is ok for you

I don't know to be honest whether or not it was rigged. I doubt it was as the provinces seemed to have voted the usual way.

The JVP is no more as there are no more hard core communists around, they never got enough to win any elections.

The UNP is powerless, mostly because the current opposition leader refuses to stand down giving way to someone else (there's something very fishy about that - recently he declared himself the opposition leader for the next six years - and the party officials more or less agreed to that - I think somewhere along the line the opposition leader just gave up). On top of that, in the past few years since the 2010 election, a lot of opposition MP's jumped boat to the ruiling party - they were literally bought over, or that's what is commonly believed. So the opposition is virtually powerless - and more and more people I speak to are realising there isn't really an opposition anymore. Hence why I said it's only an illusion of a two-party democracy.

I wouldn't pay too much close attention to the Nazi Germany likeness. If Rajapakse pulls something like that India will come in for sure. And before that happens, people will revolt like in Egypt - if not because of Rajapakse, because of India coming in.

That's terribly sad. I even read that a few long standing members of the SLFP voiced concerns about such a jumbo cabinet brought about by those 18 UNP defectors and were promptly sacked by Rajapaksa.

The whole white garb he wears makes a mockery of sil. When I was in Lanka I saw in the newspapers everyday publicity photos of him making offerings to monks and bowing to Buddha statues and I remember thinking the whole thing seemed very fake.

When I was leaving I got a hold of a newspaper which was describing all the wonderful benefits Rajapaksa was bestowing on Hambantota with his new port idea. Initially I thought ok this is good, finally the South will see some economic benefits, later I realized it is his home town and it all makes sense now, just another example of his cronyism. Did they ever get it built in the end?

Do you think Rajapaksa will be voted in for a 3rd term in 2016?

I read on wikipedia: "The Visva Bharati University of Calcutta in India conferred on him the title Professor Emeritus for his record on human rights."I had to laugh and wonder if they awarded a professor emeritus to Idi Amin too.

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

iforgotmyname wrote:Sri Lankan here ... agree with most things here, and definitely not the part where Cassandra states there are lots of "unkempt homeless kids, drug addicts etc". I think you might have seen things and took some of them out of context. I can assure you that type of thing isn't as bad as you make it sound.

Law and order here has been going down - but the economy going up (partly due to massive investments after the end of a 30 year civil war). But with that there has been a widening of the rich-poor divide because the CoL is going up and the massive investments are mostly enjoyed by people who already had money or are part of the government and are making money because they control all policies. Now there's a little bit of that investment that is trickled down to benefit people (like creation of jobs, infrastructure, which are good things).

Most Sri Lankans don't care about the corrupt-commission based loss of national wealth - because with all the commission grabbing, we do get some infrastructure built (even though they may seem like white elephants, the private sector is working with it instead of being too negative about these development projects - the tourism industry for instance is gaining from it and so are every day Sri Lankans who are now able to go to places in 2 hours or so that used to take 5 or 6).

If any of this surprises you imagine it from the point of view of a people who have been in a 30 year state of conflict and haven't really had anything going for them apart from the usual political crap (which doesn't seem to cease no matter what happens).

But what we do care about is the loss of law and order people are aware of this. Like what the OP mentioned about some guy aligned with the government, an outright thug, who killed a British Aid Worker and assaulted his friend, who were both on Holiday here, or the case where one of our national ministers tied a guy to a tree on national TV (yup, that's right), or how two national politicians shot each other in broad day light with one of them dying on the spot and the other being shot through the middle of his skull, who survived - and is yet to be put on trial properly - who is also a known drug peddler and money launderer, or the numerous people we read about in the newspapers who are aligned with the government who get away with molesting kids, murder etc, or our chief justice being evicted from her post without a fair inquiry and instead at said inquiry she gets ridiculed in a misogynistic manner by government ministers, and the list goes on....

There has also been a sudden surge of anti-islamic fervour coming from a politically backed sangha (I shouldn't be calling them that really). I'm not surprised, when the Brits invaded us they divided and conquered, and I guess that never really went away - only the people conquering changed shades. Even after a 30 year civil war, it seems that our politicians are used to staying in power by giving the majority sinhalese an enemy to fear at home or abroad.

However, that said, there is also a geo-political thing going on with the USA, India and China that doesn't really help things - although one can argue that it can also be a good thing.

But as far as the everyday-sane Sri Lankan of whatever race or creed feels: we just want to live in peace and don't really have any better options at the moment, and everyone who has an interest in us aren't really interested in us - but something else that they want - be it the internal politics of our neighbour India, a rising China or the investment portfolios of some corporation looking for that next investment or our very own who are more interested in being in power for either power itself or simply to line their pockets with more.

Now add to this people being brainwashed left-right and center all over the place for some cause and you have the potential to ignite a very big fire here (again) - which makes some realists think that we might as well be better off with a dictator, or these people just might actually end up killing each and every one of us (in which case I'm out of here). Hopefully, things will improve with time. Oh one last thing - there's only an illusion of a two-party democracy here - as it is, we are moving more and more towards a one-party dictatorship. Hopefully, at the very least, it's not going to be a one family dictatorship.

I hope more people see it as clearly as you do and something is done sooner rather than later...

alan wrote:Should I go there?Not looking to ordain, just take some pretty pictures, and enjoy the experience. This post makes me want to stay away.

Nah go. It's a beautiful country filled in large part by some of the most kind and good natured people I've ever met. Sri Lanka's not the only country in the world run by a bunch of scum bags. If you do go, be sure to share your photos here Alan

"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta

1)The world’s oldest tree planted by a human and with a recorded history is the Bodhi Tree which is still living in the city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. According to records, it was planted in 288BC and was taken as a sapling from the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha became enlightened.2) Ruwanvalisaya: The largest structure of the world at that time and second only to Pyramids.3) Sandy beaches.4) Forest monks.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---

SarathW wrote:Recommend you go there and enjoy the place see the following.

1)The world’s oldest tree planted by a human and with a recorded history is the Bodhi Tree which is still living in the city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. According to records, it was planted in 288BC and was taken as a sapling from the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha became enlightened.2) Ruwanvalisaya: The largest structure of the world at that time and second only to Pyramids.3) Sandy beaches.4) Forest monks.

I would also add Sigiriya at early hours, Horton Plain for great views, Sithulpawa forest monastery in Yala National Park to meet free elephant and deers upfront...among other things

I went there last year and absolutely loved the experience and would recommend anyone to visit this country that I found very special and unlike other places, probably for the long history of Buddhist Sangha there in the past.

alan wrote:Should I go there?Not looking to ordain, just take some pretty pictures, and enjoy the experience. This post makes me want to stay away.

Absolutely go there... I painted a bleak picture but it is safe for Tourists, the things I mentioned are to do with politics and a few bad apples who go over the line... so something messed up happening to something like 3 out of literally about 1,000,000 tourists that come here annually is nothing to be worried about. If you're with family I recommend you get on a tour package - if you're with friends or on your own, there are plenty of budget places out there but then you better brush up on local customs (your street smarts) and just avoid shady places and people as you would do anywhere else in the World and you should be just fine!